NATO air strikes hit Gaddafi compound That is how we provide a no fly zone..
TRIPOLI: NATO air strikes have struck the centre of Muammar Gaddafi's seat of power, destroying a multi-storey library and badly damaging a reception hall for visiting dignitaries.
The Libyan leader's whereabouts at the time of the attack on his sprawling Bab al-Azizia compound were unclear.
Al-Jazeera quoted a government spokesman, Mousa Ibrahim, as saying three people were killed. Another official, who accompanied journalists to the scene, said 45 people were wounded, 15 seriously.
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The strike yesterday came after three members of the US Senate armed services committee said Colonel Gaddafi should be targeted, and followed a bloody weekend in the besieged rebel city of Misrata, where Colonel Gaddafi's forces unleashed a barrage of shells and rockets.
The battle for Misrata, which has claimed hundreds of lives in the past two months and more than 30 at the weekend, has become a focal point of the armed rebellion against Colonel Gaddafi since fighting elsewhere is deadlocked.
In recent days, the rebels' drive to push Colonel Gaddafi's men out of the city centre gained momentum, and late last week they forced government snipers out of high-rise buildings.
On Sunday, rebels took control of the main hospital, the last position of Libyan troops in the centre of Misrata, said a city resident. Throughout the day, government forces fired more than 70 rockets at the city, he said.
The renewed bombardment contradicted a claim by Libya's Deputy Foreign Minister, Khaled Kaim, that 'armed forces have ceased operations'. The move, he said, was to give a 48-hour window for tribal leaders from south of Misrata to negotiate with the rebels over access to the port. If no deal could be reached by Monday night, the deadline, the tribes would launch a military assault to 'liberate' the city, Mr Kaim said.
A rebel in Misrata said there had been 300 to 400 government fighters in the main hospital and surrounding area who were trying to melt into the local population.
'They are pretending to be civilians,' he said. 'They are putting on sportswear.'
Ali Misbah, 25, a captured Libyan soldier who had been wounded in the leg, said morale was low among Colonel Gaddafi's troops. 'Recently, our spirit has collapsed and the forces that were in front of us escaped and left us alone,' he said.
Mr Misbah said he and his fellow soldiers were told that they were fighting against al-Qaeda militants, not ordinary Libyans who had taken up arms against Colonel Gaddafi.
'They misled us,' he said.
Many rebels expect Colonel Gaddafi to make another strong attempt to take the city, but they dismiss claims that the tribes will be sent in instead of soldiers.
Ahmed Mohamed Said, a computer engineer turned rebel, said it was a ruse to make the conflict look like civil war, rather than a government turning on its people, and thus prevent NATO from assisting the rebels from the air.
In Washington on Sunday, three members of the Senate armed services committee said that more should be done to drive Colonel Gaddafi out of power, including making his inner circle targets. Colonel Gaddafi 'needs to wake up every day wondering, 'Will this be my last?'' Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican on the committee, told CNN.
NATO appeared to make Colonel Gaddafi a personal target yesterday, when at least two missiles struck Bab al-Azizia. Dozens of Gaddafi supporters climbed atop the ruins, raising Libya's green flag and chanting in support of their leader.
A second building, where Colonel Gaddafi received visiting dignitaries, suffered blast damage. The main door was blown open, glass shards were scattered across the ground and picture frames were knocked down.
Two weeks ago, Colonel Gaddafi received an African Union delegation led by the South African President, Jacob Zuma, in the building, which was furnished with sofas and chandeliers.
NATO's mandate from the United Nations is to protect civilians in Libya, split into a rebel-run east and a western area largely under Colonel Gaddafi's control. However, the air strikes have not halted attacks on Misrata.
Associated Press, Guardian News and Media, Bloomberg
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and we reward friendly dictators by turning a blind eye to their butchery...
Death toll in Syria rises as officials round up activists
THREE PROTESTERS were shot dead yesterday in the coastal area of Jabla as Syrian officers raided homes and detained dozens of activists following bloodletting that has left 96 dead and scores wounded since Friday.
Two lawmakers and a senior religious figure from the southern city of Deraa resigned on Saturday, after 14 mourners were killed while attending funerals for some of the 82 slain during countrywide protests on Friday.
Legislators Nasser al-Hariri and Khalil Rifai took the dramatic step of renouncing their seats on the al-Jazeera satellite channel.
Mr Hariri said he could not remain in parliament while he was powerless to protect constituents from the bullets of the security forces. Mr Rifai observed: “Security solutions do not work.”
The mufti of Deraa Rezq Abdulrahman Abazeid announced he could not accept to issue religious rulings (fatwas) while protesters were being shot.
In Syria, as in most Muslim countries, clerics are closely controlled by the state.
While not high level, these resignations are unprecedented.
The ruling establishment decides who sits in parliament and who fills key religious posts.
The three men were the first figures of importance to defect. A member of the Deraa provincial council, Bassem al-Zamel, followed suit, asserting: “It is our duty to protest.”
Omar Qurabi, head of the National Organisation for Human Rights, said the arrests were illegal because no formal warrants had been issued.
He expected detainees to be charged for demonstrating without permits. According to new procedures that replaced the 48-year old emergency law, lifted last week, prior interior ministry approval is required for demonstrations.
The resignations are likely to increase pressure on President Bashar al-Assad to rein in the security forces and hasten to meet urgent demands for the release of political prisoners and investigations into the killings.
Since demonstrations erupted in Deraa, the epicentre of the protests on March 18th, more than 300 have been killed. The authorities declared that 286 members of the security forces have been injured.
As protests have escalated, popular confidence has waned in Dr Assad’s ability or will to initiate serious reform. While he has ended emergency rule, dissolved state security courts, appointed a new government and pledged further measures, Syria remains a tightly controlled security state.
Some analysts argue he is a sincere reformer who has been obstructed by family, party and establishment members who have major political and financial interests in the status quo.
Others claim he is fully committed to the system of governance established by his father, Hafez al-Assad, who ruled Syria with an iron hand from 1970 to 2000.
Syrians are divided into three camps: activists who demand the ousting of the regime, moderates who want reform without revolution, and those who support the regime.
For Dr Assad to survive, he needs to pacify the first and court the second by initiating reforms while maintaining the backing of the third.
The latest violence prompted the International Commission of Jurists to call for the Syrian authorities to be hauled before the International Criminal Court.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton condemned the deaths as “appalling and intolerable.” She said: “the Syrian authorities must immediately stop their violent response and fully respect the citizens’ right to peaceful demonstrations.”
She urged the government to “carry out profound political reforms, starting with respect for basic rights, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law.
“That process can only be made possible by putting an immediate end to repressive violence.”
Due to the unrest, the British government has urged its citizens to leave Syria unless they have a “pressing need to remain” and while the airports still remain open to commercial traffic.
irishtimes.com |
